


Life Insured

by itsaaudra



Category: Saw (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Family Reunions, Fix-It, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-20
Updated: 2020-11-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:28:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27638233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsaaudra/pseuds/itsaaudra
Summary: William Easton suffered through his tests only to die a brutal, horrific death? No thanks. This is my take on an alternate ending where he gets the opportunity to continue living and in the process, learns that his life has only just begun. (Title isn't final)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 16





	1. Alternate Path

_“Please…”_

The man pleaded, his calloused fingers clinging desperately to the abandoned animal cage. William Easton’s body was worn down, bloody and bruised, his endurance at a standstill. His mind, only barely hanging onto sanity after just narrowly completing trial after trial only to find out that these trials were all for naught. Not only was this game thrust upon him against his will by a former colleague and supposed _friend_ nothing short of torture, but it was not even meant for him - it was meant for the family he inadvertently destroyed. A family who he seldom thought about, a family whose life was nothing more than a sheet of paper in his profession, a family who suffered because of his choices. Choices that have ultimately led him to his damnation.

As he clung to the rusted wires of the cage, he stared tearfully into the woeful eyes of Tara Abbott who grasped onto the lever to decide his fate. Contempt sat uncomfortably on the rim of her iris. She wanted him dead, and William could not even begin to blame her. He learned from his trials that his entire method of business was _wrong._ It was wrong and it was destroying innocent lives while he sat restfully atop towering buildings in a penthouse, looking down on the little people who were practically nothing to him. He was wrong, but he was incapable of finding the words to explain how he’s changed tonight, not that Tara or her son would believe them. Not after everything they’ve been through. He knew how angry and hurt she must have been, years of anguish mounting into utter disdain as she stood face to face with the man who killed her husband.

His sister pleaded alongside him, begging for mercy. William had finally reunited with Pamela on her birthday, but not exactly how he had planned. He was going to take her to the swankiest restaurant in the city, treating her to whatever her little heart desired - steaks, seafood, chicken, wine, rum, an assortment of cakes - anything she wanted he was more than willing to give her. Instead, he had to agonize his way through the decrepit walls of an abandoned zoo, watching his colleagues perish before his eyes one by one. He had suffered enough, he didn’t want Pamela to suffer with him. 

William’s eyes wandered to Brent, Tara’s son who awkwardly stood behind her with hatred dripping like sweat from his pores. Brent’s fists remained clenched and his brow furrowed as their eyes locked, his breaths deep and loud as if he were growling like a ferocious animal. Will gulped as his eyes shifted back to Tara, who was beginning to sob, her grip on the lever softening. She backed away slowly, wiping the tears from her face. 

“I can’t… I can’t do it,” she whimpered. A wave of relief washed over William as he loosened his own grip on the fenced walls that encased his would-be killer. This wave was short lived as Brent stepped forward, the pain in his soul pushing him towards the lever. “ _No… but I can._ ”

Will’s breath stopped as the teenager’s hand clutched the lever, his life was no longer in his hands. His life flashed before his eyes - his days of working at Umbrella Health, the life he shared with his friends and family, the fleeting glimpses of a love life he barely knew all came crashing down. This was it. He braced for impact.

“YOU KILLED MY FATHER, YOU MOTHERFUCKER!”

“Brent, NO-” Tara’s woe-riddled voice cut through the tension as she swooped in on her son’s vengeance, snatching his hands and pulling them away from the lever. She struggled to release his grip, Brent hellbent on ending the life of his father’s murderer. His hate for William was strong but it was not strong enough to break through his mother’s intervention. 

“Mom, what are you _DOING_?! H-he killed dad, he ruined our life-- he deserves to die, now is my chance to make it right,” Brent cried, his voice breaking. He tried to escape his mother’s grasp, but she pulled him closer, petting his head as he broke down in her chest. Tears staining her shirt. “Mom… please.”

“Vengeance won’t make the pain hurt any less, sweetie,” Tara whispered. She shushed him, still petting his dark, unruly hair. His sobs echoed throughout the room. She looked up at Will, her eyes still misty but filled with scorn. She hated him and she wanted him dead, but she didn’t want the mental image of brutally killing a man to plague her or her son’s conscience. Brent wanted to see William suffer more than anyone, but Tara knew that ending Will’s life would only amplify the pain in his heart. Brent hugged his mother tightly, still weeping and muttering in her breast. 

“Thank you… thank you,” William mumbled through trembling lips, taking this as a sign to reconnect with his sister. He unlatched himself from one cage to the next, his sister intertwining her fingers with his. Will lurched his head forward, planting it onto the unpleasant wire and kept it there. He closed his bright blue eyes, tears dripping onto his disheveled dress shoes. He released one hand to clutch his wounded abdomen. Pamela rested her head on the cage next to Will’s. There was a still moment in the room - no words, no screaming - just raw, unadulterated emotion. 

With Pamela’s sobs synced with his own, Will began to reminisce on their youth. He was born into wealth, sure, but also into a family who chose to hire babysitters and caretakers to look after him and Pamela. Their mother and father neglected the both of them, preferring to work or spend time together - they would never make time for their own children. They would often leave the siblings alone in their rooms without feeding them if just one of them acted out William being the oldest, took Pamela and ran once he turned eighteen. They never looked back. Growing up, they only had each other. Even now, after all of his suffering, they were there for one another. William kept his eyes shut, releasing his grip on the cage and allowing himself to collapse onto the floor, drifting into unconsciousness. His sister cried his name as he fell onto the cold, hard floor. _I won_ , he thought, allowing himself to smirk before the darkness of his mind clouded over him. _I fucking won._


	2. Game Changer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> William wasn't the only pawn in this game.

The blonde-haired woman stood in the doorframe, resting her weathered hands on the hinge as she watched the game unfold. She never wanted any part in this, but she felt compelled to fulfill her late ex-husband’s final request. Despite their differences, despite the loss of their child, despite his horrific actions, despite it all, they deeply cared for one another. Jill Tuck watched as her ex-husband’s colleague writhed in the seat she strapped him to. The device she planted on his head was all a part of John’s will. Mark Hoffman had gone against everything John stood for and stopped at nothing to take control of his legacy - somehow, someway John knew this. He knew that Mark would stray from his teachings. John was always prepared for everything, his attention to detail was something that has always attracted Jill and kept her involved in his life. He gave her a sense of security. Security that no longer exists since his passing. Jill thought that Mark would perhaps be sympathetic to her considering their mutual loss, but the realization that all he had ever cared about was continuing John’s murderous plans to exact penance on the “unworthy” was all too clear to her now. She chose to respect the final wish of the man she loved, the man who spiraled into a monster, the man who gave her everything - and she damn well was not going to stop until that wish was carried out. 

Now it was Jill’s turn to take her and John’s pound of flesh. The device attached to Mark’s head was reminiscent of a bear trap, however it was a step up from a previous design, the 2.0 of a malicious torture trap. Jill’s dark brown eyes continuously raced between her captive and the game taking place below them. This entire plan depended on the choices of the brunette family and whether or not they choose forgiveness or vengeance. She did not want to see the former sponsor of her clinic die a horrific death, but in order for John’s plan to work, he needed to. She was tired of people suffering at the hands of her husband and his entourage of test subjects-turned-accomplices. With Mark dead, no one would need to suffer anymore. She knew John had other accomplices, she’s met them several times, but they were the least of her worries. They had families and other priorities. They had no reason to lust for blood like Mark Hoffman. 

As Tara Abbott backed away from the lever, a twinge of horror rushed down Jill’s spine while a sigh of relief uttered out between Mark’s swollen lips. She thought back on a time before the insanity. Before she was pregnant. Before she lost everything. She met John at grad school - although they were studying two completely separate things, a spark flew the moment their eyes met on campus. She never believed in love at first sight, not even when she first met him, but something in her told her that he was the missing piece to her puzzle. Her heart ached thinking about what could have been and how utterly fucked up her life had become - no John, no Gideon, no tranquility - just gallons of wine and lakes of tears that streamed night after night. 

Tara’s son stepped forth and gripped the lever. Jill’s heart thumped wildly. This is it. This is the end for Mark Hoffman. Mark continued to writhe in his seat, the bear trap on his head unmoving as he thrashed about. She eagerly waited for the enraged teenager to throw the switch, watching the man who denied her ex-husband’s insurance cling to his cage bracing for his doom. Mark Hoffman’s thrashing stopped as he helplessly awaited his own fate. The tension in the room was thicker than the rushing blood in their veins, their breath at a halt - that is, until the sorrowful mother intervened. 

Jill and Mark exclaimed simultaneously. The game had taken a turn that neither of them expected. Instead of vengeance, the usual route the victims of Jigsaw’s games would take, Tara chose to forgive. Mark turned his head as far as he could, his eyes fixated on Jill. Anxiety riddled her bones. She stepped back as he began to thrash again, muttering swears with the bear trap affixed to his jaw. His eyes went wild, like a feral creature bent on escaping. His hair an unruly mess as he began pounding his hand with the trap. Blood gushed everywhere. He moaned in pain with every hit his hand endured. Jill stood, shaking like a leaf in the wind, unable to move. 

“You fuckin’ BITCH!” He kept screaming, hammering repeatedly until he was able to free his hand. Jill whimpered, clutching her chest. Her heart pounded intensely as she watched Mark brutally escape from his chair. She fumbled her fingers onto the switch to the electric shock device underneath his chair, sending hundreds of volts careening into his system. He seized for a moment before his body went limp. Whether or not he was playing dead or passed out from the shock, Jill did not want to find out. She slammed the door shut and scurried down the halls of the abandoned zoo. She nearly tripped on a fallen broom while she made her way through the labyrinth. 

Jill hurried to the door that led to where the families were being held. She felt it was her duty to free them. She knew Mark would never do it and as someone who has gone through intense familial struggles, it was only right for her to be the one to relinquish them from their suffering. She uttered a jagged sigh and flung open the door, passing into the threshold that held the captive families. 

“Who are you?! WHO ARE YOU?!” Tara screamed, holding her son in her arms. He was sobbing relentlessly, rocking back and forth like a toddler. Tears rolled down her cheeks, colliding with the snot that dripped from her nose. 

“ _ Jill Tuck… _ ,” Pamela mumbled, crouching on the floor next to her unconscious brother. She stood up, focusing her eyes on Jill’s. A scowl sprawled across her face. “You did this to us?!” 

“Please, Pamela. I’ll explain everything, but we need to get out of here right now. Let me free you,” Jill said, grappling the keys to the cage out of her slim pockets. She released Tara and Brent first and stepped over William’s body to release Pamela. As the cage doors opened, Pamela let out a scream of rage and began smacking Jill. 

“You cunt!” Pamela screeched, bashing Jill’s shoulder, her face red with anger and exhaustion. Tears streamed down her face as her thrashing came to a halt. She buried herself into Jill’s chest, sobbing. Jill was confused but she understood her frustration. Jill put an arm around the shaken-up reporter and comforted her the best she could. She may not have been able to be a mother, but she always had the maternal instinct buried deep within her soul. 

Jill looked up at the two-way mirror that towered above the room. She couldn’t see it or even know for sure, but she felt Mark’s eyes glaring at her. She knew he was going to exact his revenge and she had to leave before he could get the chance. She let Pamela go and started grabbing Will’s arm, struggling to lift the lanky man. Pamela wiped the tears from her face and followed suit. The two of them carried Will out of the abandoned institute, with Tara and Brent trundling behind. Jill felt anxiety consume her, trying to push past it for her own survival. She stared at the knocked out brunette in her arms. 

_ “Congratulations, Will. You won.” _


End file.
